Newcastle go into today's Tyne-Wear derby knowing they are playing for a Champions League jackpot of up to &#xA3;35 million.

WE can reveal the full extent of the riches United are playing for as they battle for the Premiership title.

A top-four finish will see Bobby Robson's men into Europe's premier club competition.

And UEFA statistics disclosed to the Sunday Sun show the Magpies will bank minimum revenue of over &#xA3;11 million from merely qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League.

But that figure will almost certainly be boosted towards &#xA3;13 million by performance bonuses for points gained in the six group matches.

If United were to qualify for the second group stage, minimum revenue would be almost &#xA3;15.5 million.

Reaching the Champions League quarter-finals guarantees them at least &#xA3;20 million - and the semi-finals &#xA3;23.5 million.

And in the event of Newcastle going all the way to the final, they would earn at least &#xA3;26 million, rising to a staggering &#xA3;32 million-plus if they win the competition.

Bayern Munich made &#xA3;30 million as European champions last year BEFORE gate receipts from their eight home games in the competition were taken into account.

And fellow German side Bayer Leverkusen made &#xA3;11.7 million - again, gate receipts not included - without progressing from the first group stage.

The breakdown of the riches on offer to Newcastle is as follows: * &#xA3;1.1 MILLION for qualifying for the first group stage of the Champions League as one of the Premiership's top three clubs. * &#xA3;220,000 for each game played in the first and second group stages. * &#xA3;220,000 for each win in the first and second group stages. * &#xA3;110,000 for each draw in the first and second group stages. * AN estimated &#xA3;6.2 million from the Champions League TV revenue pool if they are Premiership champions this season. * &#xA3;4.7 MILLION from the TV revenue pool if they are Premiership runners-up. * &#xA3;2.3 MILLION from the TV revenue pool if placed third or fourth in Premiership this season. * A MINIMUM &#xA3;3.1 million share of remainder of TV revenue pool.

In addition, qualifiers for the Champions League quarter-finals will earn a bonus payment of &#xA3;1.75 million and another &#xA3;2.2 million for reaching the semi-finals.

The losing finalists will be paid another &#xA3;2.7 million and the winners will receive &#xA3;4.4 million.

So even if they were to fail to pick up a single point in the first group stage, Newcastle would bow out of the Champions League having banked around &#xA3;11.2 million.

HOWEVER, they would be left with prize money of little over &#xA3;30,000 if they were to be knocked out in the preliminary round after finishing fourth in the Premiership.

It all adds up to a huge boost for Robson's transfer kitty this summer - if his side can maintain their current position in the table, starting at the Stadium of Light this afternoon.